00:00We got tickets to give away this week.
00:04Rush is going to be at Little Caesars Arena on August 28th.
00:08We have a pair of tickets today for you, courtesy of Live Nation.
00:11So how do you win them?
00:13In the next hour, we're going to play The Spirit of Radio by Rush.
00:18When you hear it, call in, win your tickets.
00:21Sound good?
00:23Sounds good to me.
00:24All right.
00:25We spent most of the first hour of the show talking Tigers,
00:28split with the Royals, the latest on the deadline,
00:31what the insiders are hearing.
00:32We mixed in a little Kirby Joseph and the knee,
00:34and he's going to be on the pup to start training camp.
00:36Doesn't mean he's going to be there for week one,
00:37but at least to start training camp,
00:39he's got that knee that's still acting up.
00:42We haven't talked about LeBron James to the Philadelphia 76ers.
00:47This move happened on Friday.
00:48You got all weekend to sit and stew on it.
00:52I know Doug and Gator were not happy about it.
00:55You shrugged your shoulders.
00:56Why do you shrug your shoulders?
00:58Is Philly loading up?
01:00Sure.
01:01Just like the Rams are loading up in the NFL.
01:03And I'll go back to what Dan Campbell said.
01:04Well, I guess, you know, hey, why do we even play the season?
01:08Just give it to them now.
01:10Super Bowl and NBA championship.
01:12Are you minimizing other teams getting better?
01:14No, not at all.
01:15And they've given them,
01:17they're doing everything that they can to give themselves the best odds.
01:20And clearly, they're going to have the best odds out of the Eastern Conference
01:25the way that they've been loading up, which is not great for the Pistons.
01:29I think it means the Pistons are in danger from going to the one seed
01:32to not even having home court in the first round of the playoffs.
01:35It's a legitimate concern because you see what Miami has done.
01:39You see what, obviously, Philly is doing.
01:42And the fact that they struggled and maybe they found out, you know,
01:45what is it, Orlando, they're healthy throughout the course of the season.
01:51That was part of their issue last year,
01:52and it was their issue when they played the Pistons in the postseason.
01:55But if they have a healthy season, does that push them above?
01:59Not as much as certainly as Philly or as Miami,
02:03but they're serious contenders in regards to where the Pistons are
02:09in the hierarchy of just the Eastern Conference.
02:11We're not talking Spurs.
02:12We're not talking OKC.
02:13Odds to win the East.
02:16Knicks are one.
02:17Sixers are two.
02:19Celtics are three.
02:20Raptors are four.
02:21They added Kawhi Leonard.
02:22At least we think they're adding Kawhi Leonard.
02:24Pistons' fifth odds to win the East.
02:26Again, you could prove everybody wrong.
02:29Did anybody even see Indiana?
02:31No, but that's what I was going to add is suddenly Indiana,
02:33who played for the title in 24, gets Halliburton back.
02:37The Cavs won 60 games two years ago.
02:39I didn't mention them.
02:41You've thrown Miami in the mix here.
02:43The Pistons are looking at an Eastern Conference that's much tougher.
02:47And their offseason, on the margins, doesn't move the needle.
02:51Well, it goes back to the trade deadline and last year where, yeah, OK,
02:57we all know that during the regular season they played 82 games to win 82 games.
03:03Whereas a lot of these other teams are, you know, hey, they're load managing,
03:07they're resting, they're just trying to get to the postseason,
03:09and then they turn it on, which we saw play itself out through the regular season
03:15and the postseason last year.
03:16And now you're looking at some of those teams when we talked about, hey,
03:21it's no Tatum for most of the year, no Halliburton.
03:25That was the window where all of a sudden maybe you should have hit the fast forward button
03:29because you had a chance to, I don't want to say steal a championship,
03:34but compete for one earlier than the path says where you lost, you know, record numbers two years prior.
03:43Now all of a sudden you're the one seed.
03:45You hit the fast forward button and other teams, other injuries created an opportunity
03:52that you didn't take advantage of.
03:54And now teams are getting healthy.
03:57Teams are getting better.
03:58They're adding because they see that, hey, we can't,
04:01we're going to have to compete with Detroit.
04:03How do we get better than Detroit?
04:05Yep.
04:08So why couldn't it have been here?
04:10LeBron?
04:11Yeah, let's work backwards.
04:13Jalen Brown presumably made them attractive enough for LeBron.
04:17Was Jalen Brown available?
04:21Yeah.
04:22Boston took back a terrible contract in a couple firsts.
04:26The Pistons couldn't add Jalen Brown?
04:28And if the Pistons add Jalen Brown, do they get LeBron James on the cheap the way Philly does?
04:32Why couldn't it have been us?
04:37That's what I kept going back to on Friday.
04:39I'm thinking, Jalen Brown, Boston wanted to move on so desperately that they took very little in return for him.
04:45The Pistons couldn't find a way to get that done.
04:49I'll give you the same answer my kids give me.
04:52I don't know.
04:53Yeah.
04:54I mean, they would have had to use Dern in a trade.
04:56Is anybody feeling like that would have been a mistake?
04:58He's still unsigned.
04:59And maybe that would have been part of the issue is would he have signed in Boston?
05:02But.
05:04So, if you get Jalen Brown and eventually you get LeBron, fill the big guy spot.
05:11With a pogo stick.
05:12Yeah.
05:13Someone who can jump, catch oops, and get rebounds.
05:15B-ball Paul.
05:15Perfect.
05:16And somebody.
05:17A couple B-ball Pauls.
05:18A bullpen of B-ball Pauls.
05:21Bring in the next guy who can catch alley-oops.
05:23Go downhill to the rim.
05:25Contest shots.
05:26I don't know.
05:27I don't know.
05:28It is frustrating to watch these other teams.
05:31And again, we have no idea if Kawhi is going to end up in Toronto.
05:34I think eventually they get it worked out and he's in Toronto.
05:37But Cleveland, where you were competing with them.
05:41And when they threw out the challenge in the regular season.
05:47That's when it turned for Detroit and Cleveland.
05:51Because you couldn't match it.
05:52You couldn't answer the challenge.
05:54You got to the postseason.
05:55You couldn't answer the challenge.
05:57Well, okay.
05:58How about this?
05:58We'll ask Pistons fans.
05:59How many teams in the East are better than our Pistons?
06:04That's a challenge I'd throw out.
06:05Because at the end of the regular season, we said nobody.
06:09But the postseason, you learned a hard lesson.
06:11Not just Cleveland.
06:13But that first round with Orlando was squirrely.
06:14And that was without Franz Wagner.
06:16Right.
06:16So as you look at this offseason.
06:18And you may prefer John Collins to Tobias Harris.
06:20Cool.
06:21You might like Isaiah Joe as a little bit of extra shooter.
06:23And a guy who's won a title.
06:24A little experience.
06:25That's fine.
06:26But it's on the margins at best.
06:29And when teams are adding Halliburton off injury.
06:32Tatum off injury.
06:33Kawhi Leonard.
06:34Giannis.
06:35LeBron.
06:36Full season of Harden in Cleveland.
06:38And I can make my jokes about it.
06:39But they beat us.
06:40Well, and let's just go back to the last offseason.
06:41When the whole Desmond Bain trade went down.
06:44We thought Orlando was going to be one of those teams.
06:46Now, they were banged up last year.
06:49That's why I throw Orlando in the mix.
06:51Because if they get a healthy Desmond Bain.
06:53If they get a healthy Franz Wagner throughout the course of the year.
06:56Along with everybody else.
06:57We already know they have the big man kryptonite for Jalen Duren.
07:02Yep.
07:02Wendell Carter.
07:04And we haven't even mentioned really the Knicks.
07:05Who won the title.
07:092-4-8-5-3-9-97-97.
07:11I just think it's noteworthy.
07:13You got four teams in the odds.
07:14Vanduels got four teams with better odds to win the East than the Pistons.
07:17We could be living in a world where they go from one seed.
07:21They're not even having home court in the first round.
07:22Now, they may play hard enough in the playoffs.
07:24Where they sneak into a three or four seed.
07:26During the regular season.
07:27Yeah, but it doesn't feel like this team did enough.
07:29And everybody else around them.
07:30Well, then it goes to what does the regular season mean, right?
07:34Because if you are.
07:35Okay.
07:35Maybe you do get home court advantage in the first round.
07:39So?
07:40It didn't mean a lot this year.
07:42Now, ultimately, you won that first round series.
07:47But you couldn't beat Cleveland with home court.
07:51Texters with a great point.
07:52Not only did Boston take very little in return for Jalen Brown.
07:55They made a trade in division with their biggest rival.
07:58I'll add the team that eliminated them in the postseason.
08:02Jalen Brown was available.
08:03And Jalen Brown made them attractive enough in Philly to add LeBron.
08:08If we had added those two guys with Cade and Asar and a little bit of shooting.
08:15The favorites in the East might be the favorites in the NBA.
08:18Yeah.
08:18And you're looking at teams like, I mentioned Orlando.
08:21Indiana, who was out of the playoffs.
08:25Of all of a sudden, hey, are they going to leapfrog the Pistons just simply because Halliburton is healthy?
08:29Simply.
08:30Yeah.
08:30I mean, look, they have Zubac and they have Siakam.
08:32They got some shooters.
08:33And they played for the NBA title two years ago.
08:37We can't discount them.
08:38And they're not even ahead of the Pistons in the odds.
08:39But I think you're right to continue to circle back to them and say, don't discount the Pacers.
08:43Yeah.
08:43Tech says, it's very simple, guys.
08:45The Sixers made the moves to go to the next level.
08:47And we signed a bunch of scrubs.
08:50Well, I'm not going to go as far as say we signed a bunch of scrubs.
08:53But we didn't sign difference makers.
08:56Tech says, I think we're the eighth best team in the East.
09:00Look, I'm not willing to put them in the play in.
09:03That's Indiana and Orlando being better than them in that world.
09:08I wouldn't do that yet.
09:09Where would you put them?
09:11Sixth.
09:12Okay.
09:13Maybe fifth.
09:13Toronto is a real debate.
09:15And not knowing if Kawhi is there exactly for sure.
09:18Although I'm sure he'll end up being there.
09:19I think they put a lot of eggs in the basket trying to get Austin Reeves.
09:25I think that was legitimate.
09:26I think they were interested in Kawhi.
09:29I do, too.
09:30I think that was a real report.
09:32And he didn't want to come here.
09:34So what was plan C?
09:37Well, and that's...
09:38I don't think they ever were involved in Brown.
09:41No, I don't think they were either.
09:43And that's the thing is you'll get people who want to give Trajan credit.
09:46And I like Trajan.
09:47I think he's a sharp guy.
09:49You don't get credit for having good plans.
09:52You get credit for delivering, for pulling off trades.
09:55But look what Boston did.
09:56Let me back up.
09:57The Reeves thing, he made sense.
09:59We all loved Austin Reeves.
10:00But you know what we also knew?
10:02You didn't have the ability to sign him as an unrestricted free agent.
10:06L.A. could always match.
10:07So you had to have other options.
10:10See, I think Boston's a well-run organization.
10:13I really do.
10:14And to me, I wasn't crazy about going after Brown because you're just going to be them.
10:20You're going to have two super maxes when you re-up Cade.
10:24Boston got out of that.
10:25And why they didn't get much in return is because they needed to get out from under that.
10:29For the better of the organization long-term, they didn't think they could win with Brown and Tatum and eating
10:37up all that cat.
10:38So why would you think the Pistons would?
10:40You've got what?
10:41This year?
10:42Well, let me be clear.
10:43They did win a title.
10:44I know they did.
10:45It was two, three years ago, right?
10:47So is this just another move to be good for a long time, not to be great?
10:54You've got to time things out, right, when you know you've got to pay Cade coming up.
10:58He's going to get what?
10:59Well, Cade's on a max.
11:00No, but you're going to have to re-up with him within a year or two again.
11:03Right?
11:03Two years.
11:04Yeah.
11:05And you're talking $60 million to $70 million.
11:07Mm-hmm.
11:11If that's the case, it would seem like now would be the time to add a Jalen Brown.
11:16We don't go all in or out here.
11:18But I just want to identify this because this is interesting.
11:23You talk about, well, once they pay Cade more on top of his max and he'll be due.
11:30They've highlighted, well, a SARS deal could get done this offseason and it would kick in a year later.
11:35Duren's deal, they've got to figure out, but it's going to be a sizable raise, right?
11:39Before all these things show up on the line item, this is the offseason to do it.
11:43And they knew it.
11:44They said as much.
11:45Trajan talked about it at the podium.
11:47So they failed thus far.
11:51Yeah.
11:51Unless there's some mystery player that I'm not seeing.
11:54Or mystery trade that just has yet to be consummated.
11:58I mean, we've got to put some TNT in Denver.
12:01Hope they blow it up.
12:02I don't know.
12:05I try, I look around, I go, what players am I missing that could end up being available that the
12:11Pistons could trade, use those trade exceptions, use those first round picks that they have all of, use some salaries
12:17to match and get that piece for Cade.
12:19Because if you don't, you're going to start running out of space quickly.
12:24Well, and you take a look at your team and you say, how many needs do we have?
12:28Can we fill them all this offseason?
12:29I felt like this was an offseason where they could have gotten very close to that because Trajan identified them
12:35as, hey, we need more shooters.
12:36We need more spacing.
12:37They got more shooters.
12:39We need a second creator.
12:41That's where they fall woefully short.
12:44Got space on the line.
12:45Some techs coming in.
12:46We'll get to Heather's news and our 735 topic.
12:51We've got to get into some of the big lion storylines.
12:53It's 97.1.
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